Gemstar to appeal Virgin Media case

Gemstar TV Guide had lost its court case against Virgin Media in which it accused the UK cable operator of infringing its patents, but has vowed to appeal.

Gemstar, now part of Rovi, sued Virgin Media for infringing three interactive programme guide patents issued in the UK. The High Court of Justice ruled that Virgin had infringed each of the patents but also found them to be invalid.

Commenting on the judgment, Samir Armaly, senior vice-president of worldwide patent licensing for Rovi, said: “While we are pleased that the court found all of the patents to be infringed by Virgin, we strongly disagree with the court’s ruling on the validity issues, and intend to appeal the decision. We also intend to continue to pursue Virgin and other unlicensed companies for their infringement of our intellectual property, to join the numerous companies who have already taken licences to our patents issued throughout the world.”

Bryan Hall, general counsel at Virgin Media, said: “We took Gemstar’s claim to court, confident that the claim was unfounded.  Today’s decision is resounding confirmation that our position was correct and that Gemstar’s patents are invalid. Gemstar should not have brought this case.”